TV Alert: Brace yourself for another round of “Damages”

Damages has never really been about the law. Sure, it’s about lawyers. But the Emmy-winning series has always been more of a complicated moral mystery than a legal drama. And as mysteries go, few had me on the edge of my seat more than its first season. So with the second season set to start tonight on FX, I can’t wait to see what twists and turns the show has in store. From the promo poster alone, I know it’s going to be great.

Part of what made the show so great is also what made it hard for some people to get into. If you missed anything in the dense plot following high-powered attorney Patty Hewes (Glenn Close) and her young protégé Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne) you could easily get lost. Patty took Ellen on to help with a large class-action suit. But, as with almost everything in Damages, all was not as it seemed.

In the second season, the chess match between the two women continues.

Last season the mystery was who killed Ellen’s fiancé and then tried to have her killed. (Answers 1: the man the class-action suit was against, Arthur Frobisher (Ted Danson); Answer 2: Patty herself.) This season it looks like Ellen is seeking revenge and working with the FBI to take Patty down.

This season also features a new case, involving a man from Patty’s past (played by William Hurt), and a new man for Ellen (played by Timothy Olyphant). Heck, there’s even another high-powered female lawyer for Patty to spar with (played by Marcia Gay Harden).

That’s a whole lot of impressive acting talent in one place. But none are as impressive as the magnificent (and magnificently scary) Glenn. With her immaculately-pressed power suits and steely-blue gaze, her Patty Hewes is one of the great antiheroes of modern television.

So are you ready to strap in for another season of treachery and deceit, murder and corruption?